Milwaukee money for Reed Street Yards, surrounding projects approved

Milwaukee financing to support the Reed Street Yards water tech business park and surrounding neighborhoods gained final city approval Tuesday.

The $7 million covers an array of projects, including up to $5 million for grants or loans to attract businesses to the Reed Street Yards. That 17-acre development, by General Capital Group LLP and longtime Reed Street property owner Peter Moede, fronts on the Menomonee River east of the Sixth Street viaduct in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. Construction is expected to start this year on the business park’s first building.

The city money would come through a tax incremental financing district and be repaid through property taxes generated by new development in and around the Reed Street Yards.

The money approved by the Common Council Tuesday includes $1.36 million for public infrastructure work. The city will use some to rebuild Freshwater Way, the main road leading to the Reed Street Yards and neighboring Global Water Center. That work will be done this year, said Rocky Marcoux, Milwaukee Department of City Development commissioner.

The TIF district would also support public amenities along East Florida Street on the southern border of Reed Street Yards. They would be built around the Iron Horse Hotel and a neighboring building that Hovde Properties LLC and Iron Horse owner Tim Dixon are renovating into 98 apartments.

Developers are also building a parking structure. The city TIF district would contribute $660,000 to reserve 20 spaces in the structure for public use and add a rooftop garden. Future plans include building a pedestrian bridge from the structure’s second level that would cross over a railroad track that separates Florida Street from the Reed Street Yards.